mummymantras

Me and the hubby want to have bathtubs in both bathrooms (if possible) - the MBR bathroom and the common bathroom. We love a good soak at the end of a long day! And it's easier to bathe the kids if they're confined to a small space...

I love it! Rich, luscious and verdant! Natural materials feel heavenly in the home.

Your upstairs flooring is truly lovely! Is that real timber, wood tile or laminate? My apologies that I can't tell the difference...

I've been scouring the Internet and reading local interior design magazines in the hope of finding an intelligent, reliable ID who can hopefully achieve my vision for my home. And, so far, I've been pretty impressed with the work done by the following companies. Does any Renotalker out there have any feedback (good or bad) on them? (1) Three-D Conceptwerke (http://www.three-d-conceptwerke.com) (2) The Carpenter's (http://www.thecarpenter.com.sg) (3) Project File (http://www.projectfile.com.sg) Thanks!

Looks really lovely! And a corner EM is so special! I know what you mean about having to really bid for them... My hubby and I had our eye on 2 lovely ground-floor EMs (one in Hougang and the other in Bedok South) but we had to drop out of the race when the COVs began to climb above $70K! In fact, I heard that the Hougang one finally sold at $95K above valuation, while the Bedok South one is still not sold as the owner started getting greedy and now wants a COV of at least $120K! Sigh...

Anyway, I thought I might post pics of some of the more interesting artworks in our place... When we were selling our home, and had open houses every weekend to show off our place, every young couple who walked in through the door used to ask us about all the art pieces on our walls, where we got them, who framed them for us, etc. I felt like a gallery owner, not a home owner! Older couples who walked in simply complained a lot about the fact that our floors were covered in genuine solid timber. Sigh... Anyhow, I'm particularly proud of this piece. It's the rose petals from my wedding bouquet (the first ever bouquet that my husband bought for me!). After I dried them between the pages of one of my Shakespeare texts (hey, that's what Othello is for!), I had them framed between 2 layers of acrylic with an inert gas pumped in (so that they'll never rot or degrade). I also like this (though it's less fancy). It's the figurine from the top of my wedding cake (we had a real 3-tier wedding cake) and the ad I took out in the Straits Times on the day of our marriage.

Yeah... I'm excited too! If anything, my place will certainly be... different. Yup. I actually have tall kitchen cabinets in mind (I cook every day, so I need to store a lot of groceries at home. And I also have a LOT of crockery to put away - for all those parties we host). I've thought about sliding doors but I'm not entirely sure whether it's do-able(I guess this is where having an ID / contractor with common sense would help a lot). If it is, then I'm all for it!

Hi West! Just a question (hope you know the answer!): Is HDB okay with hiding all the pipes in the bathroom (like you've done)? I really love what you've done with both your toilets and I'd prefer to hide my pipes too. But my hubby is worried that HDB won't permit it. Or, even if they do permit it, we shouldn't do it as we'd need to hack away the wall if the pipes leak. What do you think?

I really love what you've done with the toilet! And I am really tempted to do the same with my own. But my hubby (who's a bit shy) isn't so keen on letting it all hang out... so to speak. Can't blame him really. He's sharing this flat with 4 women - his wife, his sister and his 2 daughters. He's a little outnumbered! I told him that he just needs to make sure that the bedroom door is locked if he's using the bathroom so that no one can accidentally walk in on him while he is... ahem... busy answering the call of nature. But, he still says "no way". Oh well...

Wow! You sure do get some great views!

Love your MBR bathroom sink. Manages to look both edgy and practical!

Hi Dinobros! Yeah... I've seen that bookshelf in many different magazines and though it is really nice to look at, I don't think I'd consider it as a serious option for my place. It can't fit that many books... and I have a lot of books to fit!

Good morning, Newnyew! I realise that I go to sleep much earlier than the folks who usually hang out in Renotalk... Anyway, yeah, we love our home... The slightly strange artwork (posters of albums by 80's Brit indie groups seem to dominate, together with reproductions of stuff by Edward Hopper and Patrick Caulfield), our 'interesting' lamps (we have one shaped like a giant matchstick and another that looks like a wedge of cheese!) and our many, many books. Actually, for that reason, when we were thinking about what kind of look we wanted for our home, we found ourselves inspired by indie bookstores, like Whatever Cafe & Bookstore: And other local independent bookstores with simple but pleasing aesthetics like Littered with Books (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Littered-with-Books/153135064725041), Books Actually (http://hellobooksactually.blogspot.com), and Woods in the Books (http://www.woodsinthebooks.sg).

Thanks, Jaskel! That looks really nice... but the problem is that the lower closet will then bump up against a window (see below). And part of the headboard for the bed will be resting against the window too... Is that even do-able? For reasons I connot fathom, HDB decided to stick a window there instead of at the end of the room (where a blank wall now exists).

Oh, and we will be hanging artworks all along our passageway as well, with the main focal point being the end opposite the door. It seemed like the natural thing to do... Now we just have to decide which of our stuff is most worthy of this honour...

Hi Reiki! I'm a great fan of your reno! My hubby says that it's one of the few homes we've seen so far that he'd actually be happy to live in! For the passageway to the bedrooms and the entrance to the service yard, I'm thinking of concealing them behind 'hidden doors', which would appear to either be part of a feature wall or the kitchen cabinets. Something like this... The reason for this is that I work from home and occasionally have clients or project teammates over for meetings. When that happens, I want to be able to close off and conceal the 'private' areas of my home (i.e. the bedrooms and service areas). So, not only will my clients and colleagues not be tempted to be kaypoh and poke around in my bedrooms, they won't in fact even know they are there!

Hmmm... I'm not so great at visualising things (which is why I resorted to sketching my idea out on the floorplan using a pen and ruler!)... Could you explain that a bit more? Please...

Wow! I love "She's Lost Control"! Lucky you... We've got a poster featuring the cover art for "Unknown Pleasures" on our bedroom wall, hanging over our bed... We thought it was funny. Most people don't get it. Our parents were not amused. Dare I guess that you are also a fan of The Ramones?

That's a good idea actually! I like that! Makes sense! Poor sis-in-law though... No way of expanding the closet in her room... The irony is that (of all of us), she has the most amount of clothing!

@ hafiizh: Absolutely! That's why I loved this flat from the moment I saw it (I was less than impressed with what the current owner had done to it... but that's another story!). It's actually 2 spaces in 1: the 'public' side is made up of the large living / dining / cooking space; and the 'private' side is made up of the bedrooms and bathrooms - all neatly hidden.

@ adidaem: Yup. I'm pretty worried about whether we'll be able to keep to budget with all the changes that needs to be made. It's gonna be a big job! If you know of a reasonably-priced ID / contractor who has common sense and can speak English (I'm Eurasian - I can swear in Cantonese, but I can't speak Mandarin!), please tell me!

@ Jaskel: Hmmm... Gosh, I think you're right! Sigh... It seemed like such a good idea... I guess I'm just not cut out to be an ID then... I may have to discuss this with our future ID and come up with a double-bed platform or something like that, I guess. Hmmm... I'm not too sure about the recess area under the windows... I know that there seems to be one, according to the floorplan, but I didn't see anything like that when I visited the place. So, I don't know... That's a bit of a mystery!

@ Rottenramone: Our artworks pretty much cover every wall in the flat too: Our living room (part 1) Our living room (part 2) Our dining room (part 1) Our dining room (part 2) BTW, sorry the pictures are so dreadful! I'm a pretty lousy photographer! That's why I became a writer instead!

@ Rottenramone We've always had a bit of a challenge with all our books and artworks. They already fill up most of our current home! But we wouldn't have it any other way... Right now, most of my book collection is split between the big bookshelf near the front entrance to my flat (it also serves as an effective screen!): and the long display shelves in my dining room (large, hard-cover art, architecture and natural history books go there, together with an odd assortment of junk and mementos that people have given us over the years!): We've got even more books in our master bedroom and the nursery but I think you get the drift...

@ May_dream1: Yup. It's a dream come true for me too! My current home is in Choa Chu Kang and though there's nothing wrong with CCK itself, I've always wanted to live somewhere more central and closer to the east, where most of my family and friends live. Besides the food at Old Airport Rd is way better!